Forbidden

July 25, 2011
A new trilogy and a new partnership begins with Dekker (The Bride Collector) and Lee (Havah) in the first of The Books of Mortals series. In the distant future, a dystopian world is ruled by The Order that controls humanity by genetically removing all emotions but fear. When young Rom Elias receives a cryptic message written on animal skin and a vial of blood from a man who seems to know a lot about his father's death, he risks everything to escape the Order and find out what the vellum and vial mean. He must convince friends and family to drink from the vial in order to feel human emotion again. This sets off a chain of events that will pit love and self-sacrifice against the dark emotions of hatred and greed. There's a new writing partner, but this is still true-blue Dekker, with mammoth twists and head-pounding turns that will have readers and book clubs debating the roles of emotion and logic that drive human existence.

Starred review from September 15, 2011

In the near future, Rom Elias lives in a dystopian society where all human emotions except fear have been genetically removed from citizens (save members of The Order). When Rom receives a vial of blood and a cryptic message from a stranger, he drinks the blood and is restored to his full humanity. Now, to save humankind, he must decode the message and convince his family and friends to drink from the vial. VERDICT Two of CF's edgiest authors collaborate for the first time in this big release from Center Street. With great plot twists, compelling writing, and unanswered questions, this is a must-read for Dekker ("Circle Trilogy"; Thr3e) fans and readers who enjoyed Lee's controversial Demon. [100,000-copy first printing; five-city tour.]

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2011
Popular thriller-writer Dekker teams up with rising star Lee in the first book of a new postapocalyptic trilogy set five centuries from now in a society in which all emotions, except for fear, have been engineered out of the human species. The novel focuses on 24-year-old Rom, who unexpectedly comes into possession of a vial of blood that could change humanity's future. The problem, though, is that Rom has no idea what to do with this incredibly valuable item. Also, a very powerful and, for personal reasons, exceedingly desperate man is determined to do whatever it takes to find the vial. Dekker and Lee have created an intriguing future world in which human beings are fundamentally different from what they are today but who still operate with the same basic motivations, even if they don't know that they do. It's a world poised on the edge of vast upheaval, and Dekker and Lee draw readers into it and make them eager to read more about it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)